Acting, Panspermia and other theories

First of all, the hive mind could be acting. all the rules carol has written could have been acted, since the hive mind can control exactly what Carol sees.

Even the other "free" people could be hivemind too, and simply acting differently.

If the Panspermia thing is real, since we have seen no distance limitation, they could be in contact/in-hivemind with one or multiple planets around the universe.

A being with that level of intelligence can simply be so alien that, like in Lovecraftian's fashion, it simply is incomprehensible for us. I don't think this is the case, because Gillingham has always been "rooted in reality" and not gone the "Lost" or "the leftovers" way, but if this is a first... we simply can't imagine what a being with that level of intelligence could have as a goal.

Why the animals aren't affected but the rat was?

And another theory, but what if life on earth was created by them aliens, and the signal virus is simply activating something humans already had? It would make sense, given the speed of infection, that instead of creating a antenna, it turns it on because it's already there